Mr. Havel is a fan of the Dalai Lama, who was among the first visitors
to Prague’s storied castle after Mr. Havel moved in there as president,
the final act in the swift, smooth revolution of 1989. A picture of the
Dalai Lama is displayed prominently in Mr. Havel’s current office in
central Prague.
Told that Mr. Obama had made clear he would
receive the Dalai Lama after his first presidential visit to China in
November, Mr. Havel reached out to touch a magnificent glass dish,
inscribed with the preamble to the United States Constitution — a gift
from Mr. Obama, who visited in April.
“It is only a minor
compromise,” Mr. Havel said of the nonreception of the Tibetan leader.
“But exactly with these minor compromises start the big and dangerous
ones, the real problems."

The American president would do well to heed Mr. Havel’s warning that coddling of rights-abusing nations is a “road to hell.”

(Incidentally, at least four paragraphs of the International Herald Tribune version were omitted in the online version of Smale's Václav Havel report, including the final para with the "road to hell" quote.) Even Maureen Dowd has dropped her usual scorn and irony to say that

The
tyro American president got the Nobel for the mere anticipation that he
would provide bold moral leadership for the world at the very moment he
was caving to Chinese dictators. Awkward.